**Description:** A massive, long-lived hardwood with light gray, scaly bark and leaves featuring rounded lobes without bristle tips.
**Size:** Reaches heights of 80–100 feet with a very broad, spreading crown.
**Wildlife Value:** One of the most important wildlife trees; produces "sweet" acorns low in tannin preferred by deer, bears, and turkeys.
**Identification:** Bark often appears to be made of overlapping shingles or scales.
**Habitat:** Thrives in a variety of soils across the Allegheny Plateau.
**Behavior:** Acorns germinate and send down a taproot almost immediately after falling in autumn.